Foodborne Illness
Staphylococcus aureus, otherwise known as Staph aureus, is a form of bacteria that is commonly found on a person or animal’s skin, as well as their hair, noses, and throats. This form of bacteria is present in nearly 25% of healthy people and this form of bacteria is more often common among people who have had skin, eye, nose, or throat infections. Staphylococcus is known to cause food poisoning when someone who handles food on a daily basis either does not wash their hands as often as they should, or if the food is not being stored or refrigerated properly. Many other sources of the contamination of food can include the equipment of where the food is being stored or prepared not being properly cleaned and disinfected. This type of bacteria can quickly grow and multiply at room temperature and will produce a toxin that is known to cause illnesses. The only known way to permanently kill this form of bacteria is by cooking the food and pasteurization. The types of food that are made with hand contact that will spread this bacteria through hand contact are salads, ham, egg, tuna, chicken, potato, and macaroni as well as sandwich type meals. The incubation period for this type of bacteria is about from 1-6 hours and if someone does come in contact with this type of bacteria through ingestion, they will come across an assortment of symptoms from nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, a loss of appetite, severe abdominal cramps, and possibly a mild fever. The illness period can last from 24-48 hours, depending on how strong your immune system is. In order to treat this illness, you would have to drink plenty of fluid, to cleanse your body, and get plenty of rest. People who have contracted the illness caused by this form of bacteria are not contagious and toxins caused by this bacteria cannot be transmitted from one person to another. It has been known that the toxins from this...